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A spacecraft in front of a setting sun in Starfield
Image via Bethesda

Life on Mars: ‘Amazing’ Starfield update may have revived Bethesda’s dying star

It could get even better with the Shattered Space DLC.

Starfield has found a new lease of life, with the number of players on Steam hitting heights not seen for months.

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The boost to the Starfield player count on Steam is news that will be welcomed by Microsoft, which has seen hit after hit of negative news, and it should get even better for the Bethesda game.

An astronaut staring at Saturn in space in Starfield
A new hope. Screenshot via Bethesda YouTube

As reported by GGRecon on May 20, players noticed the Starfield player count on Steam increased to almost 12,000 over the weekend, a figure not seen since January, which sparked a discussion on Reddit.

The boost in player numbers comes alongside an upsurge in positive reviews for the title on Steam, which, for the first time since release, has seen more positive reviews than negative reviews—including one that sums up the revival, stating the game is “amazing” and “getting better all the time.”

Though the numbers are still a long way off Starfield’s all-time peak of over 330,000 concurrent Steam players eight months ago, it’s a positive sign that is providing a breath of fresh air—and it’s worth mentioning that this doesn’t take into account players on Xbox Series X|S or playing on PC through Game Pass.

The most encouraging sign from this is that the number of players will get a boost when the Shattered Space DLC finally drops in Fall 2024—and we may see news about the DLC during the Xbox Showcase next month.

On top of that, there are persistent rumors that Microsoft’s exclusive approach with Starfield will be scrapped after it was reported in February that Microsoft’s multiplatform pivot will result in a launch on PS5.

The longevity of Bethesda games is also a huge bonus to Starfield, which could give it life long into the years ahead—with the recent boost of players to the Fallout franchise following the success of the Amazon series providing hope.

Significant updates have already been made to Starfield in recent months to improve the experience, including a boost to 60 FPS on console, improved surface maps, additional difficulty settings, and an interior ship design mode.


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Author
Image of Josh Challies
Josh Challies
Staff Writer. Professional writer since 2014. Pokemon, Marvel, Star Wars and overall geek. Previously wrote for Yahoo Sport, Stats Perform and online news publications.